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THE fifteenth meeting of the Conference convened at 10:30 A. M., March 19. Elder A. J. Breed led in prayer. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.1
After the reading of the minutes, the Committee on Education presented the following report in regard to recommendations 3, 4, 7, and 8 of the report of the Committee on Home Missions and Bible Work, found on page 70 of the BULLETIN, that had been previously referred to them. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.2
We recommend, That the arrangement of a correspondence course of instruction with special reference to the needs of those who desire to prepare for Bible reading work, be referred to the Faculty of Battle Creek College for such favorable action as may seem to them to be practicable. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.3
We recommend, - GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.4
1. That our educational institutions provide a suitable course of instruction, covering a period of two years, for the benefit of those preparing for Bible reading work. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.5
2. That this be followed by six months’ instruction at the Sanitarium in hygiene, which shall include Physical Culture, Dietetics, Healthful Cookery, Healthful Dress, Causes of Disease, Bible Hygiene, etc. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.6
3. That in the case of those who show a fitness for the work, a further six months be spent in one of the training schools for Bible reading workers, already suggested. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.7
4. That those pursuing these courses be under the direction of the Mission Board. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.8
The Committee on Distribution of Labor presented a partial report as follows:- GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.9
To the General Conference. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.10
BRETHREN: Your Committee on Distribution of Labor has spent much time and thought in endeavoring to find laborers to fill the important openings which exist in many parts of the field, without crippling the work in other places. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.11
The wants of the different fields, and the circumstances of the different laborers, have been weighed as carefully as it was possible for us to weigh them. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.12
We would recommend, - GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.13
1. That Elder J. N. Loughborough go to Illinois and take the presidency of that Conference, made vacant by the resignation of Elder Kilgore. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.14
2. That Elder W. B. White go to Nebraska and take the presidency of that Conference. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.15
3. That Elder C. L. Boyd go to Tennessee, and take the presidency of the Tennessee River Conference. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.16
4. That Elder F. M. Roberts go to Virginia, and take the presidency of the Virginia Conference. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.17
5. That Elder J. G. Wood make Indiana his field of labor. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.18
6. That Elder C. McReynolds go to Arkansas, and take the presidency of that Conference. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.19
7. That Elder D. C. Babcock go to West Virginia and take the presidency of the Conference and tract society, made vacant by the resignation of Elder W. J. Stone. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.20
8. That Elder O. A. Johnson take the presidency of the South Dakota Conference, and continue his work for the Scandinavians in the Northwest. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.21
9. That Elder J. M. Cole remain in the North Pacific Conference. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.22
10. That Elder F. M. Wilcox go to California and connect with the Sabbath-school work. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.23
11. That Elder D. H. Oberholtzer make Ohio his field of labor. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.24
12. That Elder Daniel Nettleton return to Nebraska and make that his field of labor. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.25
13. That Elder M. G. Huffman make Illinois his field of labor. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.26
14. That Elder Wm. Covert make Indiana his field of labor. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.27
15. That Elder O. J. Mason make Illinois his field of labor. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.28
| O. A. OLSEN, | J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, | ] | |
| S. N. HASKELL, | H. W. DECKER, | ] | |
| W. C. WHITE, | A. R. HENRY, | ] | |
| R. A. UNDERWOOD, | H. P. HOLSER, | ] | Committee |
| R. M. KILGORE, | J. H. MORRISON, | ] | |
| E. W. FARNSWORTH, | J. W. RAYMOND, | ] | |
| D. T. JONES, | E. H. GATES, | ] | |
| A. T. ROBINSON, | ] |
Moved by Captain Eldridge that the unfinished business of the Conference be taken up. Thereupon the discussion on the propositions on page 92 of the BULLETIN was resumed. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 175.29
L. C. Chadwick asked the committee to state just what they mean by the report under consideration. He said the large share of one meeting had been spent in discussing the propositions, and yet a good many do not really know just what they are aiming at. In the last meeting it was said that it was not intended to strike at any of our organizations. If these propositions do not mean that all our organizations, aside from the church, should be discontinued, what do they mean? Would like to have the matter clearly defined so that the Conference can tell what it is acting upon. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.1
E. J. Waggoner said that the propositions were put before the Conference in order to define what religious liberty really is. You may be surprised if I tell you that we will yet see men in the dungeon and whipped on the chain gang in the name of religious liberty. Men were once put to death in the name of Christianity, and the indications are that what is now popularly denominated religious liberty will sooner or later revive the same persecutions. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.2
There can be no religious liberty except as we obtain it through Christ. What relation do we sustain to government? Civil government has nothing to do whatever with religion. We have nothing to ask of governments, but they have every thing to ask of us. Do we ask them to give us religious liberty? We already have it, if we believe in Christ. Was Paul free in Christ when in the hands of the despotic power of Rome? GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.3
What do we go before Congress for? To stop the passage of laws that will abridge our religious liberty? These laws cannot stop the gospel. Everything works for its advancement. Will these laws interfere with our liberty to believe, preach, etc.? We want to work as though we believed God was in this work. The Spirit of God will work on these men, and if we had more confidence in that, we would have less fear of these laws; and we should simply take the opportunity of these laws to preach the gospel. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.4
How shall we appear? as citizens or Christians? If as citizens, it is votes and money that will win. But if we go depending on the power of God, we can be safe. And when the power of the gospel will not influence men, then it is time for us to cease. Shall we go before them as citizens or Christians? - Both; but as citizens of the heavenly common-wealth only. We should appear as Christians and that alone. The Bible says we are strangers and pilgrims here. Can we be citizens of two countries at once? GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.5
Our work is to preach the gospel. How would it have been if Paul had spent his time in lobbying, that he might have freedom to preach the gospel? Sometimes our plans get in the way of God’s work. Abraham planned, but his plans got in the way of God’s plans, so he had to quit his planning, and just believe that what God had promised he was able also to perform. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.6
Elder A. T. Jones said that when we appear before Congress there is a sense in which we appear as citizens; that while we are citizens of heaven, it is also true that we are citizens of the government, and have a right to appear as such; but we want something to appear with. The truth which we present there on religious liberty is the truth that God has committed to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, - the third angel’s message, and we should give credit where it belongs. If it were not for the truths of the third angel’s message we would all be in favor of religious legislation ourselves. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.7
Brother Chadwick asked if when Elder Jones appeared before Congress he appeared in the capacity of a church. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.8
Elder Jones replied that when he went there he appeared as a Seventh-day Adventist and as representing the Seventh-day Adventist Church. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.9
He said that he is a member of the National Religious Liberty Association and believes that it has a place and can do a good work as an agent of the church, but that in all such work we should guard against the idea of not giving the Seventh-day Adventist Church the credit of holding these principles, and should not hesitate to declare the whole truth on all proper occasions. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.10
The meeting adjourned. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.11
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THE fourth meeting of the association was held Thursday, March 19, at 3 P. M. Elder J. N. Loughborough led in prayer. The president being absent, Elder W. H. Wakeham was appointed to the chair pro tem. The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.12
The discussion on the motion to amend Section 1, Art. IV., of the Constitution (BULLETIN, page 126), by striking out the words, “of good moral character,” was resumed. At this point Dr. Kellogg, the president, arrived, and occupied the chair. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.13
As finally amended and adopted, Section 1, Art. IV., reads as follows:- GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.14
Any person who is in harmony with the object of this association may become a member of the association by signing the teetotal pledge. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 176.15
Section 1, Article II., of the By-laws was amended by substituting the word “inviolate” for the word “religiously.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.1
Section 2, Article II., was amended by striking out the word “annual.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.2
Article 5 of the Constitution was amended by substituting the word “regular” for “annual.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.3
Article 3 of the By-laws was amended by changing the word “annual” to “bi-ennial.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.4
The report of the Committee on Resolutions was taken up. Resolution three was amended by substituting for “Executive Board,” the clause, “as provided for in the Constitution.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.5
The report, as amended, was adopted. The following further report was then offered by the committee:- GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.6
Whereas, The cry of hundreds of neglected orphans has reached our ears calling for a home, and proper education; and, - GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.7
Whereas, It is a part of pure and undefiled religion to care for the fatherless; therefore, - GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.8
1. Resolved, That we urge the necessity of the immediate establishment of a place of refuge for our homeless ones. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.9
2. Resolved, That we call the attention of the General Conference to this matter, and request that body to appoint a committee to take into consideration the plans that may be presented for the erection of such an institution. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.10
3. Resolved, That we suggest that the name of this institution be “The James White Memorial Home.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.11
Whereas, There is a general demand on the part of our people for practical instruction in health and temperance principles; therefore, - GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.12
4. Resolved, That we ask the Executive Board to arrange with the various Conference officers for the holding of institutes in which shall be taught Bible hygiene, healthful cookery, physical culture, social purity work, etc; and further we, - GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.13
Recommend, That where such institutes are held, our churches select one or more from their number, having some interest in this line of work, and some ability to teach, and urge them to attend, to fit up for home missionary work in this department. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.14
Whereas, Much good may be accomplished in promulgating the principles of the Association by the circulation of the various pledges of the Association; therefore, - GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.15
5. Resolved, That we ask the Executive Board to prepare, in a suitable and uniform style, the following pledges: “The Teetotal Pledge,” “The Anti-Rum and Tobacco Pledge,” “The Social Purity Pledge,” “The Vegetarian Pledge,” and “The Children’s Pledge.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.16
Whereas, There is great danger that unqualified persons may undertake to engage in various lines of medical missionary work, and that much harm may result therefrom; therefore, - GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.17
6. Resolved, That only such persons should publicly engage in medical missionary work as have received credentials from the Executive Board of this association or are employed by some of the officers of this association. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.18
A motion to adopt opened the report for discussion. Resolution one called out remarks from various ones upon the importance of such a move as the one recommended. Elder Wakeham said on resolution two that there was a general interest on the part of the people for instruction in cookery and temperance. He had fifty calls to lecture, for every one he had been able to fill. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.19
Elder Loughborough said that one great hinderance to the progress of health reform among us was the fact that people did not understand the principles of healthful cookery. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.20
Brother Wessels of South Africa said that as this association was now International in name, he hoped it would be international in character; and that not only America, but foreign fields as well, would reap the benefit of the instruction proposed by the resolution. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.21
A motion to lay resolution six on the table, was lost, as was also a motion to refer it back to the committee. After much discussion, the report was adopted. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.22
The Nominating Committee recommended the following-named persons for officers of the association, all of whom were elected:- GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.23
For President - Dr. J. H. Kellogg. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.24
Vice President - W. H. Wakeham. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.25
Field Secretary - W. H. Wakeham. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.26
Recording Secretary - Mrs. E. H. Whitney. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.27
Treasurer - Good Health Publishing Co. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.28
Corresponding Secretaries - Mrs. D. T. Jones, Laura Bee. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.29
Executive Committee. - J. H. Kellogg, D. T. Jones, W. H. Wakeham, S. N. Haskell, R. C. Porter, W. C. White, L. McCoy, L. C. Chadwick, E. H. Whitney. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.30
| A. O. TAIT, | ] | |
| M. H. BROWN, | ] | Committee. |
| F. L. MEAD, | ] |
The meeting then adjourned. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.31
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(Concluded.) GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.32
I DARE say there has been a great deal done, that is not all apparent. Doubtless a great many orphans have been helped, and a great many widows have been cared for. I do not mean to intimate that nothing has been done; but the question is, Are we doing all we ought to do? I am convinced that we are not. I want to call your attention to some proofs I have here that we have need of doing something more. When we were a small people, it was possible to find homes readily for all those who might be left without father or mother; but we have come now to be a large denomination, - 40,000 or 50,000, - and it is not so easy to find homes for them. Unless there is some systematic plan by which they will be sought out, they will be neglected, and very often will drift away from God and the truth. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.33
I have recently sent out several hundred letters to different persons in the denomination, - to ministers, to tract society workers, church elders, and to all whose names I could get, who I thought could give me information; and I have received information from these persons concerning some 225 orphans. Now I know that there is a larger number of orphan children in the denomination than that; I am satisfied that there are three or four times as many; because, from statistics gathered from the Review and Herald it is found that within the last five years, 774 have been made orphans. The Review makes a note of 774 orphans. And the leading men of this denomination do not know of but about 225 of them. The 300 deaths reported each year, probably represent not less than 400 deaths; for we do not get a report of all that die. It is estimated that only about three-fourths of the deaths are reported to the Review. The number of deaths reported in the last five years would represent 1,000 orphans made in the same length of time. Of course, it would be impossible to make a home large enough to take in all these orphans; but there are many of them that are specially worthy. I want to read you some of the data gathered from the letters which I have received. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 177.34
Of the 536 letters sent out within the last few weeks seeking information respecting the number and circumstances of orphans among us, I have received ninety-six replies giving information concerning 222 orphans. Of these 126 were fatherless, sixty-one motherless, and thirty-five had lost both parents. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.1
In one instance, I find a mother left with two children, six and eight years of age. She has been a widow for six years. She has no income, and she is bound to try to keep them herself. She leaves them at home while she goes out to toil all day. She comes home tired, at night, and goes away early in the morning. Those children may be worse off than if they had no mother. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.2
Now here is another case; a little girl, both her father and mother dead. They were both Sabbath-keepers, and have been dead for some time. Where do you suppose that little girl is? She is living with a woman who is not a Sabbath-keeper, and is wholly at the mercy of a stranger. She is not likely to be reared up to become a worker for God. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.3
Here is another case of four little children from ten to thirteen years of age, - just the age when they need proper supervision. The mother has been dead for seven years, and the father for ten years. The father died when the youngest child was one year old; and since that time those children have been drifting about among strangers, have been at the mercy of the world entirely since that time. And the writer of the letter mentions the fact that they ought to be put in an orphans’ home. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.4
Here is another case of four children. The father has been dead for one year. They vary in age from four to seven years. The mother is blind, entirely at the mercy of strangers. They are simply cared for by charity, with nobody to train and educate them. Just think of four little orphans with a blind mother! GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.5
Here are four more little children, varying in age from four to fourteen. The father and mother are both dead, and they are cared for by a poor grandfather. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.6
Here is another case of a little girl; the mother has been dead for two years. Her father is insane. What sort of care can that little girl have. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.7
Here are three children, four, nine, and eleven years of age; the father has been dead for three years, and the mother is trying to care for them! And this is the property with which she is trying to raise and educate those children: two acres of land, two cows, and three calves. Trying to educate those three children, clothe them, and train them. The children need a home, and it would seem that the mother needed a home too. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.8
Here is another little girl eight years of age; both of her parents are dead. She is living with an aunt; but the husband of the child’s aunt does not want the child. So you see what an uncomfortable position that little girl is in. A child that is not wanted. She is doubtless made to feel it every day of her life. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.9
I will mention another case that is worse than orphanage. Three young children, the father ran away some time ago and left the family to be cared for by the mother, and charity. And how do you suppose she does it? A neighbor said to this mother, “Here are two acres of land; if you will clear that land you may have it.” And she is working chopping and grubbing, trying to clear that land. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.10
The story is too pathetic to continue longer. I find that I have gathered the names of 222 orphans, and many of them are cases like those I have mentioned to you. These are only illustrative, typical cases. There are a large number of other cases that are just as bad as these are. There have been reported just about one-fifth of the orphans that have been made in the last five years; and there must be a very much larger number of forgotten orphans that are not being cared for, than are reported. Nobody knows anything about them. I found when I came to talk to presidents of Conferences, that they did not know whether there were many orphans in their Conferences or not. They did not know, but they would write and see. It seems to me it is time we begun to do something for them. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.11
Now I suppose by this time, if you are interested in this subject at all, you will begin to inquire what are the advantages of an orphans’ home? What sort of plan have you for an orphans’ home? GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.12
I have given quite a good deal of thought and study to this subject. My wife and I have given considerable attention to this work for a number of years. We have been planning to raise forty or fifty children ourselves. Just as fast as we get any money, we will invest it in children. I have done that for several years. Every single dollar that can be saved from other necessary expenses goes into the education of children. I do not believe we have any right to accumulate money. I think as long as we are well, and have God’s blessing upon our work, it is our duty to spend what we earn in God’s work. I do not believe that in this age any man has a right to accumulate money. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 178.13
Now the idea that we have of an orphans’ home, is a place where children shall have the best possible development in physical, mental, and moral training; where they will have the best possible hygienic surroundings. Let us consider for a moment these three points, physical, mental, and moral training. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 179.1
How are children usually trained physically? How many of them get proper food to start with? Our plan is to give the children the most perfect hygienic diet. Somebody has been whispering around that I have been taking children to experiment on. I would like to have you come up and see what the results of our experimental work are. We are experimenting in a certain sense, but we do not consider it any experiment at all; for what the Lord says, we believe is true. We believe that a vegetarian diet is the best diet, and that by and by our people will eat no flesh food. If the Lord wants us to come there by and by, we should be willing to get there just as soon as we can, instead of compelling the Lord to push and pull us along. We should be reaching out for the good time coming, instead of waiting and hanging along by the flesh pots just as long as we can. We endeavor to give our children the best possible diet. We find the average cost to be about $1 or $1.25 each per week. That is not very expensive. We seek to give them every possible advantage from a physical standpoint. We train them daily in gymnastics and work. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 179.2
In the matter of mental training, we propose to train our children in the natural way; instead of cramming them, putting them through so much of arithmetic, grammar, etc., teach them to investigate; teach first their senses, train them to see, to feel, and to observe. That is the way a child naturally begins. A child naturally uses its perceptives first. In this way a child learns to think for himself. Most people have been educated to think as somebody else thinks. We propose to educate these children in such a way that they will be original thinkers; and their whole course of education is planned upon that idea. And you would be astonished to see how well this plan works, if you begin soon enough. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 179.3
We propose that our children shall have proper moral training. We are trying all the time to re-form the children, and to re-form people. Now how much better it would be to right-form them, or well-form them, in the first place, instead of devoting all our time to reforming. Then we should not have to re-form. It is a great deal more difficult to re-form than it is to well-form. When a child goes in the wrong way year after year, his mind gets crooked and bent, and it is next to impossible to bring it back again to the straight line of truth. It is only a miracle of grace that can do it. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 179.4
People talk about good children and bad children, as though they were accidents. Good children and bad children are made; they are manufactured, just as are the clothes they wear, to a very considerable degree. It is possible to make good children bad, by bad education and bad surroundings. Good children are not accidents, any more than scholars are accidents. Bad boys and bad girls are not accidents, any more than good mathematicians are accidents. It is a matter of education chiefly. Children may be trained in right-doing, until right-doing comes to be a habit. The bad boy or the bad man is bad because there is a sort of inside compulsion to be bad. That is the reason. He feels impulses to wickedness that he cannot resist, because his impulses are stronger than his will. If you train that child in such a way that he has impulses to good deeds, instead of bad, he will be good. What makes the soldiers in an army march right into the cannon’s mouth, while the grape shot is sweeping them down on all sides? What impels them to go straight along to death? It is largely habit. They have been taught to march in step. The order is, “Left, left,” and the movement carries them right along. That is just exactly what you can do with children, to a very considerable degree, by forming habits of right doing. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 179.5
We talk a great deal about total depravity. There is no such thing as total depravity. That is an idea that belongs to the Middle Ages. It certainly does not belong to our faith, and I am glad to see it is being dropped out of the faith of most evangelical denominations. In the average child there is no such thing as total depravity. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 179.6
Now in our home we have matters arranged so that everything is done systematically. The children get up at a certain hour, they have their bath at a certain hour, and after the bath there is something else to do. When the hour comes for play, they have a systematic play, - play that is doing them good in a pleasant way. And so on, all day long, the children have something to engage their attention every moment. They have no time left for mischief; their time is wholly occupied in following out the day’s program. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 179.7
A point which we must impress upon the child is that he must do right because it is right, and that religion consists in doing good. There are a great many people trying to be good so they can be saved. There is another class of people spending their lives doing good. Which of these classes of people are generally the best people? The child that is taught to “try to be good so he can be saved” is simply taught to make a safe investment on the other side of Jordan. On the other hand, the child that is taught to do good, and his whole life is spent in doing good, he forgets all about himself in trying to do something for other people. It seems to me the man who is closest to God is the man that tries to do what God is doing in lifting up humanity; who runs the quickest to help the helpless, who is most ready to assist the weak and succor the afflicted, who sympathizes with the suffering, and comforts the comfortless. That is what Christ did when he was on earth. Christ did not talk nearly so much about being good, as he did about doing good. If a child does good, it will be because he has impulses in him that lead him to do good, and then he will be good. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 179.8
Certainly there is evidence enough that we need an orphans’ home; and we have need of a home for friendless old people. The childish old man and the feeble old woman need care in an institution where they can have supervision, just as much as these helpless children. There are many such among us, old pioneers nearing the end of their life’s journey, who need just such care. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 180.1
Another point that must be considered, is the cost of such a home. It would not cost so very much to start with. We should make this home different from the ordinary orphans’ home. The ordinary orphans’ home is often merely a place where a lot of children are herded together, to be kept only a short time for shelter. Our idea is to take children, and furnish them a home, in which they may be trained and educated, and brought up to usefulness. In such a home, manual training could be made a success. As the children grow up, the girls may be taught cookery, nursing, sewing, and all things necessary for girls to know. As the boys grow older, they may be taught the use of tools, farming, printing, etc. So an institution on that plan could be made largely self-supporting. But the question is, Can we afford it? GCDB March 20, 1891, page 180.2
We want to call your attention to one or two things which may not have occurred to you. I ask you to see what the Lord has done for us through health reform. The Lord has taken away our tea, coffee, and tobacco. Suppose we should pay for an orphans’ society the money that we do not spend for tea and coffee. There are probably not less than 10,000 Seventh-day Adventist families, and each family would save $25 a year on tea and coffee. $25 multiplied by 10,000 is $250,000. How much might we save in sickness if we obeyed the laws of health! GCDB March 20, 1891, page 180.3
Let us calculate what the 400 annual deaths in the denomination cost us. The State says that for every death, it loses $1,000. Certainly one good Seventh-day Adventist is worth $1,000. So the four hundred deaths would represent $400,000. Suppose that one fourth of those who die need not die. That is $100,000. That now makes $350,000. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 180.4
Then statistics show that for every person that dies at least ten persons are sick all the time. Consider how much it costs to have a sick person in the house all the time. There are, then, 4,000 persons sick all the time. We will simply count the time those persons lose while being sick, at $1 a day, and will not say anything about doctors’ bills, nurses’ fees, etc., and we have such tremendous figures that you will hardly believe it, $1,200,000, - more than a million dollars. Add to this the $350,000, and we have more than $1,500,000. Suppose only one third of this expense is unnecessary, and we have the handsome sum of $500,000, annually, every dollar of which belongs to the Lord as a thank-offering. Let us have a few thousands with which to build a home, and $10,000 a year afterwards, and we can feed, and train, and educate a hundred orphans from helpless infancy to useful manhood and womanhood, and you have several hundred thousands left for missionary work. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 180.5
I want to call attention to the fact that we have no remembrance for that grand old pioneer of this work, Elder James White. Now would it not be a splendid thing to have a memorial home to commemorate the name of Elder White? It is a shame that his name should be forgotten. Do you see very much in the papers about Elder James White? Do you ever hear very much about him? I would like to have you think about that. He worked at fifty cents a day to earn money to pay his expenses to travel and preach the truth. He always economized, saving every way he could, putting his money into the work, and he put his life into the cause. We never expect to have another man that can do what Elder White did. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 180.6
Some of us who have connected with these institutions while they have been growing up, may imagine that we have built them. This is a self-deception. The man who prepares the soil, selects the seed, and plants the tree, is the one who deserves the greatest credit. The man who simply tends and nurses the tree may imagine that he has made it, but it is God who has made it grow, and to him and those who did the pioneer work should the praise be given. Those of us who gather under the wide spreading branches of these great institutions, and who eat the fruit of other’s work, and enjoy the advantages resulting from the labors of those who are dead and gone, should be the first of all to give due credit to those who did the seed sowing. I trust we should all be glad to see an institution called “The Elder James White Memorial Home for Orphans.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.1
There is much to be said upon this subject, but I must close, for I have already consumed ten minutes of time of the meeting to follow this. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.2
In conclusion, let me again urge that while we are thinking and talking about foreign missions and foreign mission work, we shall not forget a duty which lies so close at home as does the proper care of the homeless and friendless orphans who are yearly increasing in number among us, but for whom there has been heretofore no systematic provision made. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.3
No Authorcode
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I have had a burden in regard to Battle Creek and the places surrounding it, and other places in Michigan. From time to time, light has been given me with reference to the duty of many of our people to leave this place, and go where they can spread the knowledge of the truth. Testimony on this point was given years ago, and why the people have been so backward in heeding it has been a mystery to me. Here is a testimony that was given June 12, 1868:- GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.4
I was shown that a great work might be accomplished in bringing souls to the knowledge of the truth, were proper exertions made. In every town, city, and village there are persons who would embrace the truth if it were brought before them in a judicious manner. Missionaries are needed among us, self-sacrificing missionaries who, like our great Exemplar, would not please themselves, but live to do others good. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.5
I was shown that as a people we are deficient. Our works are not in accordance with our faith. Our faith testifies that we are living under the proclamation of the most solemn and important message that was ever given to mortals. Yet in full view of this fact, our efforts, our zeal, our spirit of self-sacrifice, do not compare with the character of the work. We should awake from the dead, and Christ will give us life. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.6
With many of our brethren and sisters there is a strong inclination to live in Battle Creek. [Many think they are getting the next door to heaven, if they get into Battle Creek. Thus they have expressed it to me again and again.] Families have been coming from all directions to reside here, and many more have their faces set that way. [We can well testify of that, by the inflowing since the last Testimony was given.] Some who have come to Battle Creek, held offices in the little churches from which they moved, and their help and strength were needed there. When such arrive at Battle Creek, and meet with the numerous Sabbath-keepers there, they frequently feel that their testimonies are not needed, and their talent is therefore buried. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.7
Some choose Battle Creek because of the religious privileges it affords, yet wonder that their spirituality decreases after their sojourn there a few months. Is there not a cause? The object of many has been to advantage themselves pecuniarily, - to engage in business that will yield them greater profits. Their expectations in this particular may be realized, while they have dearth of soul, and become dwarfed in spiritual things. They take no special burden upon themselves, because they think they would be out of place. They do not know where to take hold to labor in so large a church, and therefore become idlers in their Master’s vineyard. [Now mark!] All who pursue this course only increase the labor of those who have the burden of the work in the church. They are as so many dead weights. There are many in Battle Creek who are fast becoming withered branches. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.8
Some who have been workers, and who have an experience in the cause of present truth, move to Battle Creek and lay off their burden. Instead of feeling the necessity of double energy, watchfulness, prayer, and diligent performance of duty, they do scarcely anything at all. Those who have burdens to bear in the Office, and have not time for duties aside from their work, are obliged to fill responsible positions in the church, and to perform important, taxing labor, which if they do not do, will remain undone, because these others will not take the burden. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.9
Brethren who wish to change their location, who have the glory of God in view, and feel that individual responsibility rests upon them to do others good, to benefit and save souls for whom Christ withheld not his precious life, should move into towns, and villages where there is little or no light, and where they can be of real service, and bless others with their labor and experience. Missionaries are wanted to go into towns and villages and raise the standard of truth, that God may have his witnesses scattered all over the land that the light of truth may penetrate, where it has not yet reached, and the standard of truth be raised where it is not yet known. The brethren should not flock together because it is more agreeable to them, but should seek to fulfill their high calling to do others good, to be instrumental in the salvation of at least one soul. But more may be saved than one. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.10
The sole object of this work should not be merely to increase our reward in heaven. Some are selfish in this respect. In view of what Christ has done for us, and what he suffered for sinners, we should, out of pure, disinterested love for souls, imitate his example by sacrificing our own pleasure and convenience for their good. The joy set before Christ, which sustained him in all his sufferings was the salvation of poor sinners. This should be our joy, and the spur of our ambition in the cause of our Master. In so doing we please God, and manifest our love and devotion to him as his servants. He first loved us, and withheld not from us his beloved Son, but gave him from his bosom to die that we might have life. Love, true love for our fellow-men, evinces love to God. We may make a high profession, yet without this love it is nothing. Our faith may lead us even to give our bodies to be burned, yet without self-sacrificing love, such as lived in the bosom of Jesus, and was exemplified in his life, we are as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.11
It is not merely the ministers who are missionaries; every soul who has given himself to God is a missionary. Every one ought to feel that he is under obligation to God to win souls to Christ. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.12
Many of the ministers that labor in different places have little success in winning souls to the truth. What is the reason of this lack? - They have not the living faith that takes God at his word. Those who have this vital connection with God, labor for the one object, - to save souls. They do not merely preach a sermon, but they feel that there is earnest work for them to do. They go to the houses of the people and sit down with the families, taking the Bible with them, and they become missionaries in the home, and wherever they are. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 181.13
There are some who need to cultivate adaptability, - they need to adapt themselves to the situation, - and then they can do more good in families than they can while spending so much time in sermonizing. God wants you to take hold of the work, and act like men who carry the burden of souls continually. Then you will work earnestly to bring sheaves to the Master. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 182.1
There are families right here in Battle Creek who should be in other places, working for the salvation of souls. Are you not servants of God? Have you not professed to be his servants, the soldiers of the cross of Christ? But whom are you serving? Where are your conflicts? Where are your trials? Where do you meet with opposition? In meeting opposition you are driven to the Lord of heaven for strength and support; you are driven to the gate of heaven, that the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness may shine into your hearts. Then you will not merely tell what the requirements of God are, but you will tell of his grace and love, of his mercy and joy and peace, which lift you above the temptations that will assail you in every place. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 182.2
Here in Battle Creek the church is large, and people cannot be looked after individually as in the smaller churches. Then how important that all who come here should decide not to be a dead weight, a burden, but to catch every ray of light from the throne of God, and to educate, educate, EDUCATE themselves, that they may educate others. In doing this, it becomes evident that they are not dead, - they are alive. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 182.3
And those who are connected with our institutions here can obtain a deeper experience, through earnest prayer and vital connection with God, that they may distinguish the temptations of the enemy amid the common duties and the business of life. Unless they feel the importance of making the improvement that is essential in their characters in order to be better men every day, and thus be enabled to carry the responsibilities that rest upon them, they will be found on the losing side. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 182.4
The church, too, should be a living, active, working church. The members should not lay their weight upon others, but each should carry his own burden, and fill his allotted place as a worker together with God. What are you doing? God has given every man his work, and you are not to look to others; you are to look to your Master, - to him who has called you to his service. You are to do his will, notwithstanding that infirmities may be upon you. For we have infirmities, and defects of character, and therefore need the grace of God all the time. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 182.5
If this church becomes a living, active church, its members will have a tender care for the youth among them; they will be looking after those whose hands are hanging down, whose feet have gone astray from the true, safe path. They will not stand idle, not knowing what is the matter with their brother or sister. They will have a living interest in the momentous issues that are before us for this time, and there will be a self-sacrificing people here. That is what God wants us to be. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 182.6
But some have drifted into Battle Creek whom God has not sent here. If he should speak to them, methinks he would say, as he did to his prophet of old, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” In these words the Lord virtually said to Elijah, “I sent you to Ahab with a message, and how is it that you have strayed away here? Was it because Jezebel threatened to take off your head for bearing the living testimony which resulted in the death of the priests of Baal? What sent you here?” Elijah heard the threats of Jezebel, but he did not wait to hear what God had to say. He fled for his life, and hid in a cave. But God did not leave him there. No, he called him out of the cave, and bade him stand with God upon the mount, and listen to his word. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 182.7
Have the members of the Battle Creek church the true missionary spirit? Are they following the example of Christ? He did not remain in the pleasant courts of heaven and leave the world to perish. Do we see his example followed among us? Where are our home missionaries? May the Lord awaken an interest in the hearts of those who are guiding this work, that light may shine in the darkened places. Those who are content to sit under the clear light of truth from Sabbath to Sabbath, and do nothing to diffuse the light, will after a time lose it themselves. If we would keep the light, we must be constantly giving it to others. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 182.8
Jesus did not neglect the villages. The record declares that “he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God; and the twelve were with him, and certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, ... which ministered unto him of their substance.” These accompanied Christ for the purpose of doing something. I want to know how the people who gather here from Sabbath to Sabbath are going to stand when the judgment shall sit, and the books shall be opened, and every one shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body? I want to know how we shall meet those souls unsaved whom we might have helped and blessed. To God the souls of all are alike precious; there is no respect of persons with him. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 182.9
The apostle Paul said, “The love of Christ constraineth us.” It was this that impelled him to his arduous labors and burden-bearing in the cause of Christ. Thus he was constrained to carry the light of truth to those that were in darkness. And there is just as much necessity for us to bear burdens, and to feel that we are constrained. The same love that impelled Paul should impel us. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 182.10
Are there not families here who will uproot from Battle Creek and go out to settle in some of the adjoining towns and villages, and there exert a saving influence? At first the people of these places may despise the truth, for they have heard much that is false and objectionable in regard to Sabbath-keepers. Now is it not the duty of some who are standing idle here, to go where they can represent Christ and his precious truth? Jesus might have stayed in the courts of heaven till to-day. He might never have come to our world, but he chose to do it. And why? Because he loved us. He gave his life for us; and what does he say in the word? - “Love one another as I have loved you.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 183.1
When I was at Otsego, I asked the brethren if there were any Sabbath-keepers in the towns and villages around them. They said, not that they were aware of. I answered, “Then there is one thing that I would be aware of. I would see that the light of truth was shining in these places.” Let a family move into each place, - a family whose members love Jesus, and who will walk with the cross of Calvary in view, who will lie low at the feet of Christ, because the more humble they are, the clearer will be their views of Christ and his matchless loveliness, and the great sacrifice that he has made to save perishing souls. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 183.2
Jesus left the courts of heaven, he laid off his royal robes and his royal crown, to undertake the salvation of the world, to bring many sons and daughters to God. He clothed his divinity with humanity. That was a humiliation; but he came still lower. He was poor; he worked at the carpenter’s trade with his father, and in this act gave honor to all labor and to all honest poverty. So let no one, whatever his position, feel at liberty to despise or oppress the poor, or to treat any soul with harshness; for Christ humbled himself to save all. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 183.3
No matter where it is, - in the Sanitarium, the publishing house, the College, or any other department, - you are not at liberty to cherish a feeling of envy or jealousy, or to speak harshly or impatiently. If we are Christians, Christ dwelling in us will lead us to represent him in character; and when the love of Jesus lives in the soul, let me tell you that your harsh spirit, your haughty independence, your authoritative manner, will all be laid aside. You will then feel that you are yourself a sinner, in need of the grace of God, and that he has borne with you, and borne with you long and patiently. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 183.4
O, how long he has suffered us! How patient he has been with our mistakes! and yet many of us will do just as the man did who was forgiven the great debt, who went out and took his neighbor by the throat, saying, “Pay me that thou owest!” Such a man fails to remember how much he was forgiven, and he will act out his own impetuous, wicked disposition, and make offenders feel that they are in his power. There is a great deal of this work here in Battle Creek, but we want all who indulge this spirit to understand that unless they are converted, they will never see the kingdom of heaven. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 183.5
What is our work in this world? - To win souls to Christ. Hence we are to study the life of Christ, for he is our example. At some of our camp-meetings I have seen men strolling around on the outside of the ground during the time of service. I asked, “Why are you here, instead of listening to the discourse?” “I know all about that subject; I have heard it several times,” was the answer. “How do you know,” I said, “but that God has given his messenger a word for you?” Such ones are in the position of the rich young man who came to Christ, saying, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The answer was, “Keep the commandments.” But he rejoined, “All these things have I kept from my youth up; what lack I yet?” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 183.6
Thus many will say, “I have done the best that I knew.” Then you should learn of Christ how to do better. If you are doing the best you know, then, for Christ’s sake, put yourselves in the channel of light, where the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness will shine into the heart, and you will know how to do better. God wants us to improve all our powers, and to make use of all the opportunities he has given us for soul-culture. He wants us to learn every day in the school of Christ. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 183.7
Every one in the Office of Publication, needs, moment by moment, to receive wisdom from above. If there is light anywhere that he can get, he should be where he can receive it. And when the workers there feel as they should the responsibility of their position, it will make them solemn and prayerful in the doing of the work. They will do their best all the time. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 183.8
Now we want light, and we may have it on this occasion if we will open our hearts to receive it. When we have done that, we shall understand that Battle Creek is missionary ground, and we are laborers together with God. We want to understand better how to work for souls. Right around us there are many, both young and old, that need our help. You can engage in missionary work right here, and thus be learning how to work for others; then you will be prepared to go out of Battle Creek to labor. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 183.9
You are not here to gather around you a select few of your favorites, who virtually say, “You praise me, and I will praise you; you help me, and I will help you.” In doing this you will leave a large class uncared for, - souls for whom you are responsible before God. When you place yourselves where you should be in order to hear the voice of God, you will come before him every day, saying, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.” “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” And the Lord will give you a burden for souls, and will touch your lips as he did those of Isaiah, with a live coal from off his altar. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 183.10
There are fields for labor opening everywhere, and calls for schools in every direction. Right in our own State are most favorable openings for missions, places where churches should be built, and the light of truth shine forth. But where is the means to sustain the work? GCDB March 20, 1891, page 184.1
There is just as much self-denial required now as when we first started in the work, when we were only a little handful of people, when we knew what self-denial meant, what self-sacrifice meant, when we tried to get out the little papers, little leaflets, that should go to those who were in darkness. There are a few connected with the Office to-day who were with us then. For years we received no wages, except barely enough to furnish us with the plainest food and clothing. We were glad to wear second-hand clothes, and sometimes we had hardly food enough to sustain our strength. Everything else was put into the work. After a time my husband received six dollars a week, and we lived on that, and I worked with him in the cause. Others labored in a similar way. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 184.2
Brethren, one after another of the old standard-bearers has fallen, and others have entered into their labors. We do not want you to forget that those men who have grown gray in the cause of God, and still survive, are not to be neglected or ignored. They should be highly esteemed for their works’ sake. Those that have come in to take up the work, after it has been made a success, should walk very modestly. They should manifest the spirit of self-sacrifice. God means that the institutions here shall be carried on by self-sacrifice, just as the foundation was laid. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 184.3
God wants every one here to receive of his Spirit. He wants to give us of his power. He wants us to acknowledge his dealing with us in the past. We are not to discredit or despise it and go to work in a different way. It is best for us to work where God works, and to recognize his leadings all the way along, from the time when the mighty cleaver of truth took us out from the world and made us a separate people. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 184.4
I repeat that we should be missionaries; we want to “hold the fort.” Wherever we can find among us men of ability, we should endeavor to bring them in and connect them with the work; but if they will not seek in every way to catch the light from heaven, that they may know how to lead the people in the right way, God can do without them. He is not dependent upon any human being or human ability. Your ability will never give you an entrance into heaven. The question is, Are you walking with God? Is Christ abiding in your heart? Does the law of kindness proceed from your lips? Do you feel the necessities of those who need encouragement and help? Those who represent the cause must stand high before the people in order to win their confidence; and when, standing in God, you have the confidence of the people, the cause will be built up. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 184.5
The God of heaven is the ruler over all. No man or set of men can rule in these institutions in Battle Creek. We want you to know, brethren, that God stands at the head. He will take charge of his own work. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 184.6
God has chosen us to be a peculiar people among the nations of the earth, and through us he desires to send the light of truth to all the world. Are you doing your part in the work? God help you to feel that you are to deny self, to sacrifice self, remembering that Jesus for our sake became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. Christ is coming, and he is coming to investigate the work of every one, - to see whether it is wrought in God and in an unselfish way, or the opposite. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 184.7
God does not want any to engage in this work except those who have the spirit of sacrifice, and who feel that God is with them, and that he has called them to share in the sacred work for this time. I want to see the blessing of God, the dews and the showers of grace, come upon his people in rich measure. Remember, he bids you to bring all the tithes and offerings into the storehouse, and he promises that if you do this, you shall have his blessing; that he will open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing so great that there shall not be room enough to receive it. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 184.8
When I see so little of the spirit of self-sacrifice manifested among us, I wonder if our people believe that Christ is soon coming. Do you believe it? A man will act out all the faith he has. We used to say so in 1843 and 1844. Brethren, do you now believe that the Lord is coming? Do you believe it in your hearts, or is it a mere theory, without any real faith or power? The world will present its proposals to draw you away from the work, and Satan will tempt you to accept them. If you can be easily divorced from the work, you may depend upon it the bribe will come, because Satan wants every soul that he can lead. Now, brethren and sisters, we want to know who are on the sacrificing side; we want to know who will be on the side of God, the side of heaven, the side of eternal life. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 184.9
No Authorcode
BY ELDER E. J. WAGGONER.
WE must not forget that the only object that we should have in this study of the Bible is that we may be drawn nearer to God, and that we may learn that the Word of God means just what it says, and that what it says, is the voice of God speaking to us individually. Take the Word and build upon it. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 185.1
There is one thought that was mentioned last night that I wish to impress upon your minds. Our union with Christ and with his righteousness, may be and should be just as close and complete as our union has been with sin. The figure of marriage shows that to be so. We were held in union with sin, - married to the old man, - to the body of sin. That was an unlawful connection, consequently the body of sin was a body of death to us, because we could not be separated from that body except by death. That body and ourselves were identified, - we were married; therefore we were one, and the body of sin was the controlling influence in that union; it dominated everything. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 185.2
Now Christ comes to us, and when we yield ourselves to him he looses the bonds that have bound us to the body of sin. Then we enter into the same intimate relation with our Lord Jesus Christ that we previously sustained with the body of sin. We become united to Christ, - married to him, - and then we are one. And as in the other case, where the body of sin was the controlling influence, so in this second marriage, Christ is the controlling influence. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 185.3
Notice how perfectly that figure of marriage is carried out. We are represented as the woman. The husband is the head of the family; and so Christ is our head, and we yield ourselves to him. We are one with him. What a precious thought it is, that we are one flesh with Christ! In this we see the mystery of the incarnation appearing again. If we can believe that Christ was in the flesh, God incarnate in Christ, we can believe this, - Christ dwelling in us, and working through us, - through our flesh, just the same as when he took flesh upon himself and controlled it. It is a mystery that we cannot understand; but we acknowledge it, and that gives us freedom. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 185.4
We sang to-night, “My sin is nailed to his cross.” He says that our old man was crucified with him. That is true; but it is not raised with him. Christ came to minister, and not to be ministered unto, but he came to minister to us, and not to be the minister of sin. Therefore when we and the body of sin together are crucified with Christ, and are buried together, we are raised up to walk in newness of life, but the body of sin remains buried, so we are free from it. Now what follows? GCDB March 20, 1891, page 185.5
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 185.6
In these verses we have that which, if we will hold it in our minds, and believe that Jesus is able to save us by faith, will be to us a sure rock upon which we can build. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” In these words lies a practical thought, and from it arises a question which troubles many. They say, “I believe all that in theory, I am fully in harmony with that, and I know that Christ can cleanse from sin. I believe that if I confess my sins, he is faithful and just to forgive me, and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. But the question in my mind is, have I confessed all my sins? That is what gives me trouble; if I was only sure that I had confessed all my sins, then I could claim that promise, and believe that there was no condemnation for me.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 185.7
Now this is something that troubles very many, - How are we going to know that we are not under condemnation? We cannot charge God with having left the matter so indeterminate that it is impossible for us to know whether we are condemned or not, therefore it must be that we can find out. We may put it this way: “I have confessed all the sins that I know of, everything that the Lord has shown me; and when the Lord shows me something else, I will confess that.” Of course confess everything the Lord shows you: but, brethren, don’t stop half way. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Then when you have confessed a sin, believe that God forgives it, and take his peace into your hearts, and if he shows you other sins, confess them, believe that they are forgiven, and have his peace still. But there are scores of honest souls who deprive themselves of a blessing, and finally go into darkness, because when they have confessed their sins, they do not take the forgiveness, and thank God for the freedom that must follow. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 185.8
Now the idea conveyed in that expression, that we have confessed all the sins we know of, but still we dare not acknowledge freedom from condemnation, for fear that there are other sins that we do not know about, and therefore have not confessed, is really bringing a serious charge against God. It is making the Lord out to be the forgiver of the man who has the best memory. But was it your memory alone that enabled you to remember those sins that you did confess? Who quickened, and spurred up your memory? It was the Spirit of God that showed those sins to you. Now are we going to charge God with doing a partial work? He sent his Holy Spirit to show you those sins. Shall we say then that he kept back a part of them, that he did not reveal to us? He showed us just what he wanted us to confess, and when we have confessed them, we have met the mind of the Spirit of God, and we are free. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 186.1
Suppose that I have injured one of you, I may have been pursuing a systematic course of evil toward you, - accusing you falsely, trying to injure you in your business, trying to provoke and irritate you in every way possible, doing everything I could against you, day by day, and week by week, and month by month. By and by my eyes are opened, and I see the meanness of that course. I feel all broken down because I have lent myself to such a mean way of acting, and I come to you, and acknowledge what I have been doing. You can see in a moment that I am all broken down over it, and that I really feel that I have done wrong. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 186.2
Some of us here have had occasion to forgive people who came to us in just that way. Now has it been our custom when they come in that contrite way, to stand coolly back, and let them tell the whole story from beginning to end, and rack their minds to try to remember everything that they have done in detail, so that they may confess it? Then when they think they have told it all, and ask for your forgiveness, do you stand back still, and remind them that there was another little thing which they have missed, and tell them that you would like them to confess that to? Then when they have told everything that they can think of, and that you can remind them of, do you say, “Well, I guess you have confessed it all, so I will forgive you”? There is not a person in this house that would do that. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 186.3
When I settled that question for myself, I thought, I have no business to make myself out any better than God. When anyone comes to me or to you, all broken down, and confesses his wrong, we forgive him freely; and before he has told half what he might tell, we tell him that it is all right, that he is forgiven, and to say no more about it. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 186.4
That is just what God does. He has given us the parable of the Prodigal son, as an illustration of how he forgives. His father saw him a great way off, and ran to meet him. I am so thankful that God does not require me, before I can be forgiven, to go back, and take up every sin that I have ever committed, and confess it. If he did, he would have to lengthen my probation longer than I believe he possibly can, for me to repeat the smallest part of them. Well may David say, “For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.” Psalm 40:12. Yes, our sins are “innumerable,” but “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;” a broken and a contrite heart he will not despise. We take hold of the sacrifice of Christ, take it into our very selves, and thus we make a covenant with God by sacrifice. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 186.5
The Lord forgives freely, and we can know it. God shows us the representative sins of our lives. Sins that stand out prominent, - they stand for our whole sinful nature, and we know that our whole life is of that same sinful character. We come and confess the sins. Shall we charge God with saying, “I have shown you those sins, and you have confessed them; but there are some other sins, and I will not show you them, but you must find them out for yourself, and until you do I will not forgive you.” God does not deal with us in that way. He is infinite in love and compassion. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 186.6
Now another point: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” People say, “I have taken Christ, and now I look back and trace my life history through the day, or the week, and I cannot see anything but imperfection in what I have done, and then the feeling of condemnation comes over me, and I can’t stand free. How can I say, there is no condemnation for me, when I see these failures?” This is a subtle deception of Satan, to deprive us of acceptance and peace with God. Do we expect to be justified by those deeds? If we do, we make a grand mistake in the beginning. “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.” To Jesus we must look for our justification, and to him alone. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 186.7
Says one, “I am afraid that I will fall.” You need not be afraid. Paul says, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” 2 Timothy 1:12. What have I committed unto him? My life, and he is able to keep it. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 186.8
When we get over into the kingdom of God, we will not look to the best deeds that we have done, and thank God that we are justified because we have done so well. But our song of joy will be, “Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” And so we know that when we yield ourselves to him, and die to him constantly, that he does those things for us that we cannot do for ourselves. Let us look to him continually! But when we take our eyes from him, and go into sin, he is not responsible for that. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 186.9
Just as long as we keep looking at him, there is no condemnation. Try it, and you will know that it is a fact, for it is a fact that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Why? “For the law of the spirit of life in Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” In our sins the law is death to us; and not only is it death to that man who makes no profession of righteousness, but it is death to that man who acknowledges the claims of the law, that it is good, and yet says, “But how to perform that which is good I find not.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 187.1
All will allow that a Christian must do what is good, some of the time at least. But this experience in Romans 7:21, “When I would do good, evil is present with me,” shows that the man having that experience does not do good at all. Yet he wants to do good. This is service in the oldness of the letter. The man is serving the law, but is a slave. There is no freedom in the service; it is bondservice. But now having tried with all his might to do what he wants to do, and having failed, he finds that in Christ is the perfection of the law, in him there is life. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 187.2
So the law as it is in the person of Christ is the law of the Spirit of Life. So he takes the life of Christ, and gets the perfection of the law as it is in Christ, and serves him in spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. Thus he is delivered from bond-service to the law to freedom in it. There is a wonderful amount of rich truth in that, - “The law of the Spirit of Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 187.3
“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh.” Is there any discouragement in that? does it cast disparagement on the law? Not in the least. What could not the law do? It could not justify me because I was weak. It did not have any good material to work on. It was not the fault of the law, it was the fault of the material. The flesh was weak, and the law could not justify it. But God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, to condemn sin in the flesh, that he might justify us. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 187.4
Some have taken the position that this verse teaches that the law could not condemn sin unless Christ died. Brethren, that is a fearful charge to bring against God and Christ. That would be making Christ, not our Saviour, but our condemner. Christ himself says, in John 3:17, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” The law always condemned sin. He that believeth not, is condemned already. Christ is the justifier. Since the law condemns man, it is evident that it cannot justify him, for it is impossible for it to condemn and justify at the same time. But what the law could not do, Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh to do. How did he do it? - By keeping the law when he was in the flesh. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 187.5
There are certain things which I used to do, which I always liked to excuse myself for. I knew that they were wrong, consequently I made resolutions that I would not do them. But I did them just the same. Again and again I did them, until finally I made up my mind that they were inherited traits - that I was born with them, and therefore I could not help doing them. But thinking that way did not free me from condemnation; I felt condemned just the same. For Christ has left us no excuse; he has condemned sin in the flesh; by his life he has shown that sin in the flesh is condemned, and he has destroyed it, for in him the body of sin is destroyed, and we are new creatures in Christ. By his exceeding great and precious promises we are made partakers of the divine nature. He has taken away this sinful nature, - taken it upon himself that we might be delivered from it. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 187.6
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 187.7
But the carnal mind can acknowledge that the law is good. “I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not; but what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.” We have fancied, and have tried to comfort ourselves with the thought that we were subject to the law, because we loved it, and regarded it as a beautiful thing, and tried with all our might, or as some put it, “in our weak way” to keep it. But the carnal mind is not subject to the law, neither indeed can be. And what is the evidence of the carnal mind? The inability to do that which is good, and which we know we ought to do. “The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5:17. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 187.8
“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 187.9
There is a beautiful thought contained in these verses. First, we have the fact presented that we may have the Spirit of God. How do we get it? By asking. Go back to the eleventh chapter of Luke. Christ says, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? ... If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Make a personal application of that text. When you kneel down to pray for the Spirit of God, which is all powerful and will cleanse from all sin, quote that to the Lord. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 188.1
If your children came to you, asking for some of the necessaries of life, you would study every way to know how you could give them the things that they desired. You are poor, and weak, and miserable, but God is infinite; therefore he is infinitely more willing to give you the thing that you need so much than you can be to give good things to your children. The Holy Spirit is his to give, and he is willing and anxious that we should have it. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 188.2
Again Christ said, “He that believeth on me, .. out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” And this he spake of the Spirit, that he would give. Said Christ again to the woman at the well, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.” Why? - “For if the Spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Here is the hope of the resurrection again. What remains to be done when the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in you? Only to quicken, that is, to make alive, our mortal bodies. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 188.3
“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear! O remember that. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 188.4
He gives us his spirit now; and shall we be afraid? Isaiah says, “I will trust, and not be afraid.” No; we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; for perfect love casteth out fear. Think of Abraham, and what was written of him for our benefit. We need not consider the frailties of our bodies, but be strong in faith, giving glory to God, knowing that what he has promised, he is able to perform. Yes; we will “consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 188.5
“Abba, Father,” that means, Father, Father. First of all realize that he is in heaven, and that he is God; he is infinite in power, and so great that he can take up the isles as a very little thing; to him the nations are as a drop in the bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Great and awful being that he is, we can come to him, and call him, “our Father.” He has the tenderness of a parent, backed by the power of infinite divinity. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 188.6
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” In Ephesians 1:13 we are told that spirit is the “earnest of our inheritance.” Some do not seem to be able to understand this witness of the Spirit. They say if they only had it they would rejoice. What is the witness of the spirit? “Why,” says one, “it is a sort of feeling, and when I have it I will know that God has accepted me.” But brethren, it rests on something more substantial than a feeling. I am glad that God has not left the witness of his Spirit to be dependent on my feeling. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 188.7
Sometimes I feel so tired and exhausted that I have hardly any power to feel any way. And that is the very time when I want to know more than at any other time that I am a child of God. Sometimes disease takes hold of us and saps all our strength, and we have no power of mind or body. We are just alive, conscious, but with no emotion. That is the time we want the witness of the Spirit. Can we have it then? Yes, “The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” How does it witness? “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.” 1 John 5:9, 10. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 188.8
Now what does a witness do? Bears testimony, does he not? I am brought up as a witness in a court. How do I bear witness in that case? - By telling what I know. That is all, - I give my word, and perhaps I back it by my oath. Then if the Spirit witnesses, it must say something, must it not? - Yes; then how do we recognize the witness of the Spirit? How does the Spirit speak? Mark this point:- GCDB March 20, 1891, page 188.9
God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began. The Holy Spirit spake by the prophet Jeremiah. David, the sweet psalmist, says, “The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. It spoke by the apostle Paul. Whose word is this? [Holding up the Bible.] GCDB March 20, 1891, page 188.10
It is the word of God. What speaks in this word? The Spirit of God. Then what is the witness of the Spirit? It is the word of God. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 189.1
Well, but how about this witness in myself? Remember the words of Paul in Romans 10:6-8. “Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend unto heaven? (that is to bring Christ from above:) or, who shall descend into the deep? (That is to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith which we preach. “What word? The word of Christ, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, and believe with thy heart, that God raised Christ from the dead, “ye shall be saved.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 189.2
The Word of God is the voice of the Spirit of God. Then we have the witness in ourselves, when we have his word in our hearts by faith. We eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, by feeding upon his word, and so we have the witness, within ourselves. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 189.3
This witness has been sworn to. God has put his testimony on record, and he swore to that testimony. When God has put himself on record, what can you bring to corroborate that word? When God has spoken, will you bring up the testimony of a man to sustain it? No, - It is the word of God, - that is our sheet anchor. It is our only hope, and it is the anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast. It enters in within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 189.4
Our Christian life, from the very beginning, must be based on the word of God. That is why I want you to take the word of God and believe it. When you go to your homes, - to your closets, - recognize the voice of God speaking to you; for his Spirit witnesses with our spirit, that we are the children of God. I thank God for the witness of his word. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 189.5
“And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Brethren, it means something to be a child of God. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” BEHOLD IT. We are to be called the sons of God! It is too wonderful for the human mind to fully grasp. Poor, unworthy, miserable creatures, worthy of nothing, yet God has had such an infinite love for us, that he has made us worthy to be his sons; and he gives us everything that he gives to Christ. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 189.6
In John 17:3 the Saviour prays to the Father, “That the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” Brethren, the Father loves us, just as much as he loves his only begotten Son. How do we know? The assurance of that is given not only in this text, but in the fact that he let his only begotten Son die to save us from death. We share with Christ all the love that the Father has for him. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 189.7
“We are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” That means that since we are joint heirs with Christ, that Christ cannot enter into his inheritance without us. For if you and I are joint-heirs to an estate, we must have it together. You cannot enter on your inheritance before I enter and enjoy it with you. Then whatever Christ is sharing now at the right hand of his Father is for us. He is at the right hand of God in the heavenly places, and so we are quickened with him, and raised up and made to sit together in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 189.8
By and by when Christ takes his own throne, we will take that too. In the first letter to the Corinthians it is written, “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9. This has to do with the inheritance, but don’t put it all off for the future. Go back a couple of verses, - “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” They might have known it, for read what follows in verse 10: “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.” GCDB March 20, 1891, page 189.9
It is something that God reveals to us now. We must not put it all off to the golden streets of the New Jerusalem, to the pearly gates, and the walls of Jasper. And the only reason why we have not seen these things in the past is because the natural man cannot see them. It is a precious thought, and I want you to grasp it, - that everything that Christ has we have now. Like David of old we can say, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” Psalm 16:6. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 189.10
Let us take God at his word, that we may know the meaning of that prayer in Ephesians 1:17, 18: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.” If we lack this wisdom, let us ask of him who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given unto us. GCDB March 20, 1891, page 189.11